Outdoor advertising device



April 15, 1930. M. F. PHILLIPS OUTDOOR ADVERTISING DEVICE Filed Oct. 19,1928 2 Sheets-Shet 1' INVENTOR April 15, 1930. M. F. PHILLIPS OUTDOORADVERTISING DEVICE Fild Oct. 19, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 a w m 7 1. f i iM\ MN F H 2 m V1 a ME: k n fl R MK.

I ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 15, 1930 P ATEN-T oF-r I H MAURICE r. rnrrmrs;or nrcmvronn, VIRGINIA OUTDOOR ADVERTISING DEVICE Application filed;October 19, 1928. Serial No. 313,522.

The present; invention relates to improvements: in outdoor advertisingdevices,,o ne; object thereof being the provision of a movable signarrangement in which signs or cards bearing advertising. or similarmatter are successively presented to;.view in appearing and disappearingrelation so as to attract the attention. of the public; Another objectof theinventionisthe pro visionof an outdoor sign apparatus in which a.casing provided with a sign presentation aperture is socombined withthe, sign deliverywmechanismv that signs are presented in interruptedsuccession, that is, one sign is moved forward into presentationposition and moved. backward therefrom before the next sign is broughtintoview, the projecting and retractingpositions of thelsignbeing insubstantially the same plane, so:that the advertising matter carriedthereby is presented to view during thecomplete action.

With the foregoing and, other objects in view, which will appear as thedescription proceeds, theinvention resides in, the combination and!arrangementsofparts and in the details of. construction hereinafterdescribed ancl;claimed,.it being understood that changes in the preciseembodiment of theinvention herein disclosedcan be made within; the scopeof what is claimed without departing from the spir t f 'the invention Inthe drawings V Figure 1 is aperspectiveviQW of the completeapparatus; 1

Figure" 2 is a. longitudinal sectional View therethrough;

Figurefl is alsection on line 3W3 of Figure 2,. a i a a Figure 4 is anenlarged detail sectional View of one ofthesign holding-racks and the Vadjacent portionof the sign mounted there- Figures 5 and 6 are detailviews in side elevation and top plan of one form of endlessbelt orchainand sign-carrying member.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 7 designates a substantlallyrectangular-casmg which is hereshownas mounted upon pedesndsaicl openingbei g normally closed: by a transparent sheet o-fglass l,0. Mountedwith;in the; cabinet at opposite sidesof theopening 9- and projectingrearwardly; therein are the two 'parallel wingsll, and disposed above 9the shaft 15. This shaft is properly. journaled within the cabinetandcarries;v two sprocket wheels 16' and 16 which, in turn, operate throughthe chains 17 and 17; the two short shafts 18-18 said shafts, as clearlyshown, being provided with sprockets; l9 and 19? over which aretrained'the sign conveying chains 20 and, 205. will drivethe conveyorchains which. are properly trained, as will presently appear, to performthe desired; function. Mounted upon each side of the cabinet to guidethe respective chains are the. sprockets 21, 22 and 23; as clearly shownin Figure2, and the chainis caused by the motor to travel: inthedirection; of the arrows, -as indicated in Figure; 2, so: that the arms26L (Figs. 5 and,6 carried by the chains-and 20"- and which carry the;sign-engaging hooks; 2%: are positioned to properly engage and releasethe signs, as will presently appear. Mounted Withint-hecabinetandsecured to the opposite sidewalls thereof, as shown-in Figure 4;, arebrackets 25 which, in turn, a support the; rails or rods 26 in aninclined position, the fol:- ward' end of'e'ach rail being. providedwitha hooked end'27 to successively receive and support curvedsupporting arms extendlng laterally from the signs 28 at or adjacent theupper edges ofthe latter;

Each sign 28', ashore shown, is providedon its rear face with spacingmembers 29 to prop: erly space the same fromthe next succeeding sign asillustrated, in Figure 2, and in the proper position upon, therzicks26", theinc1-ine of the rack'beingsuch asto deliver the signs forwardlyby gravity after they have been Thus, the shaft 'viously exhibited.

placed thereon through the intermediary of the endless conveyors.

It will thus be seen that when the conveyor chains 20 and 20 are movingin the direction of the arrow (Figure 2), the hooks 24:, which arespaced in proper relative position so that the signs will not interferewith one another in moving into exhibiting and non-exhibiting position,will be inserted in the curved arms 30 at the upper corners of each signin sucha manner that the sign will be lifted from the hooks 27 of therails 26 and will assume the dotted line position shown in the lowerportion of Figure 2. As soon as the sign has passed the sprockets 21 and21, it enters between the wings 11 and moves in a horizontal planetoward the opening 9 and until it passes under the sprockets 22 and 22,at which time, the hooks 24' are carried around the sprockets and thesign is bodily elevated and moved rearwardly, assuming the dotted lineposition shown in the upper portion of Figure 2 with the lower edgethereof slightly above the position it assumes when moving toward theopening 9. Thus the sign will be moved forwardly toward the opening 9and then rearwardly in a slightly elevated position between the wings11, and, when the sign has reached the position, as shown in brokenlines in the upper part of Figure 2, the next succeeding new sign iselevated and started on its way toward presentation position withoutinterference by the sign which has been pre- As the sign continuesrearwardly and passes downwardly past the s rockets 23 and 23, thecurved arms 30 t creof are engaged by the rearwardly projecting ends ofthe rails or racks 26 and deposited thereon and disengaged from thehooks 24 of the chains 20 and 20, said hooks 24 continuing in a downwarddirection and moving past the sprockets 19 and 19' to again pick up thesign which at that time is supported by the hooked ends 27 of the rods26. Although the portions of the chains 20 and 20 between the sprockets19, 19 and 21, 21 have been illustrated at such an angle as to cause aninterval of time between the presentation of one sign and thepresentation of the next sign at the opening 9, it is possible to locatethe sprockets 19, 19" and 20, 20 closer together, thus causing thechains to travel at a steeper angle between said sprockets so that thesigns will be presented at the opening 9 without a prolongedintermission, as here illustrated. V

From the foregoing description, it Wlll be evident that in presentin asign to view, or displaying it in the exhibiting position, the sign iscarried forwardly with its upper edge in the same horizontal plane andthen rear- 'wardly with its upper edge slightly elevated, the signsbeing suspended in vertical positlon so as to properly present theadvertising matter carried thereby through the opening 9 to attract theattention of the public due to the forward and rearward movement of thesign.

I claim 1. A sign display device including a casing having a displayopening, a plurality of signs normally supported in said casing andmovable successively forwardly thereof, spaced endless sign conveyors inthe casing, means for moving said conveyors in unison, means below andmeans above and rearwardly of said opening over which stretches of saidconveyors travel at an inclination toward said opening, means above saidopening and adjacent thereto over which substantially parallel stretchesof said conveyors travel toward and away from said opening, and meanscarried by the conveyors for engaging one sign at a time and carryingthe same to and from said display opening.

2. A sign display device including a casing having a display opening,conveyors in the casing, means for causing said conveyors to moveupwardly and then substantially horizontally forwardly toward saidopening and then substantially horizontally rearwardly away from saidopening, and means carried by the conveyors for engaging one sign at atime and carrying the same to and from said display opening whereby thesign is conveyed in the same position forwardly and then rearwardlybefore disappearing from view in the opening.

3. A sign display device including a casing having a display opening,sign-supporting means mounted in the rear portion of said casing, spacedendless sign conveyors movable in said casing and having a stretchmovable upwardly at an incline toward said opening and stretches movingsubstantially horizontally in parallelism toward and away from saidopening, a plurality of signs normally resting on said supporting means,and cooperating means carried by the conveyors and the signs whereby onesign at a time is picked up by the conveyor and moved toward and awayfrom the display opening and then restored to said supporting means.

4. A sign display device including a casing having a display opening, asign rack mounted in the rear portion of said casing, a prime movermounted in said casing, two spaced endless sign conveyors operablyactuated in unison by said prime mover, a plurality of signs normallysupported by the I rack, cooperating means carried by the conveyors andthe signs whereby one sign at a time is picked up by the conveyors fromthe rack and moved toward the display opening and restored to the rearend of the rack after heinodisplayed, the forward portions of saidconveyors adjacent the display opening being movable in parallel spacedrelation to cause the sign to be moved toward the opening in a straightline position and to be slightly elevated and moved in' the oppositedirection in the same position, and a pair of Wings car ried by thecabinet at opposite sides of the opening and forming a shieldedcompartment between which the signs are moved When in exhibitingposition.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

MAURICE F. PHILLIPS.

